firma, mare, incognita
by PichiKeen
Summary: Where dreams are born and time is never planned, they can't just think of happy things, wishing for hearts that fly on wings forever. They just can't. But with each other's support, they'll try. Musings and reflections of Aerrow, Finn, and Piper.
1. Leader of the Lost Boys

Aerrow sighed. The cool floor of the hangar beneath him, he rubbed a greasy thumb over the wrench in his hand. Clouds drifted by lazily as the Condor sleepily rocked against its tethers. The sky was pink and orange and red and Aerrow sighed again.

"If you keep huffing and puffing like that, you're going to blow a house down somewhere," he jumped at the voice. Shaking his head a bit at being caught off guard.

"Hey Junko," he lightly punched the Wallop in the arm as he sat down next to him, "Don't sneak up on me like that. Nearly gave me a heart attack."

Junko laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, "Sorry about that. Piper said to tell you that dinner's almost ready," He let his hand drop into his lap, worry etched into his face, "But you looked kind of serious sitting here all by yourself in the hangar," He shrugged uselessly, "Didn't want to disturb you."

Silence settled between them, Junko willing and patient enough to give Aerrow the space and time to sort through whatever it was he was sorting through.

"I've just been thinking. Y'know?"

No, Junko didn't really know, but he kept silent.

"This is really cool and all, being a Storm Hawk, but sometimes," he began to furiously tap out a rhythm with the wrench as his speech sped up, "When we get into ridiculously dangerous situations and there's little to no time to make a decision and all fourteen years of my life flash before my eyes and I see us back on Terra Neverlandis, we're laughing and having fun and playing Sky Knights because we dreamed of the day we would be one and I think," the tapping stopped and Aerrow sighed "Sometimes I think that I don't want to do this."

Junko tilted his head and stared out of the open hangar, "But Aerrow, you're the most confident out of all of us. You're the one who says the sky in never the limit. You were born to do this," he looked down at his lap, fiddling his thumbs, "If you don't think we can do this then…maybe we can't."

Aerrow frowned, biting his bottom lip, "It's not that I don't think we can do it. I just doubt myself sometimes. I just think that if we had stayed on Neverlandis, everyone could be happier. Safer. And," the wrench clattered to the floor, "I miss having a terra to call home."

He looked over at the young leader of the Storm Hawks. "You just want to kick and scream and cry all at once," Aerrow glanced over at him eyebrows furrowed, Junko pushed on, "Don't you. Like you have this emotion bubbling inside and you don't know what to do with it all."

Aerrow cut in, letting the words spill out, "If I don't do something about it, I feel like I'm going to crack."

"Break down." Junko offered.

"Fall apart." Aerrow confirmed.

The mechanic plopped his hand on his friend's head, ruffling his red hair, "It's a lot of responsibility saving the Atmos."

Aerrow gave him a crooked smile, "Yeah, but we can do it."

"Cause we're family. And if you need us to be the terra beneath your feet and the sky above your head, we will." Junko stood up slowly, turning to go, "Because the best thing we've got is each other."

"Because we're family."

Junko smiled, "You got it."

Chuckling, Aerrow rose, picking up the wrench, "Man Junko, didn't know you were an part time therapist," He grinned widely and Junko shrugged,

"Eh, I have my moments."


	2. Peter Pan Syndrome

Dancing. That's what Finn called it anyway. Piper preferred to think of it as a spastic, erratic self propelled aneurysm, but he just shrugged it off as jealousy.

He waved around to the beat, guitar riff screaming in his ears. He muttered along with the vocals and fashioned the broom into a guitar. His heart thump thump thumped in rhythm and Stork just stared.

"What," He started with a strange look, "Are you doing."

Finn couldn't hear that it was more of a statement then a question. He jammed not so silently, the pile of broken glass he was supposed to clean completely neglected.

Stork sighed. Flipping on autopilot, he walked over to the sharpshooter, careful to avoid the flailing elbows. Finn stopped his dance session when his headphones were forcefully yanked off his head.

"Hey! I was listening to that!"

"Sure you were." Stork deadpanned, his expression sour, "But what you should be doing is cleaning up that," He pointed to the pile of shards on the floor, "Mess you made."

Finn pouted and placed a hand on his hip, "Uh hello, I _was_ sweeping up. Weren't you paying attention?"

"Loosely," Stork admitted as he headed back over to the controls, "And all I saw was a fool using a cleaning instrument as a musical one."

Finn rolled his eyes, "Dude. It's called having fun. You should try it out sometime."

The Merb ignored the cheeky grin, opting instead to fiddle with a few controls and right their course, "Right…I'll put that on my to-do list. Directly under setting myself on fire and immediately above being eaten alive. I'll get to it eventually." He grinned dryly at Finn, "Happy now?"

He was met with a rather adorable glare, "Effing ecstatic."

"Good."

Finn sighed and returned to the sweeping. It wasn't his fault Piper's test tube rack had gotten in the way of his game of one person catch. How was he supposed to know that a ball fashioned out of old frayed electrical wires could knock over ten of those suckers?

Silence floated between them, punctured every now and again by Finn's off key humming. It wasn't until Stork had safely secured the Condor to a rocky overpass that he said anything.

"Here," he tossed Finn his music, "Good job cleaning up."

"Yeah thanks," he fumbled with the player before putting the broom and dustpan away and flopping on the couch. "When's dinner, I'm starved."

Stork shrugged at the complaint ambling over and taking a seat by Finn, "Don't know. Piper and Radarr are supposed to cook tonight."

Finn gave a nod of approval, slipping his headphones back on, "Good. As long as it's not Junko. I mean I love the guy, but his food could use some major improvement. I mean seriously. Ew."

Stork smirked and stretched, "Good to see you're putting it nicely."

He caught the sarcasm, "At least I'm honest. Maybe it's because I've never met a Wallop and his cast iron stomach before Junko." He tilted his head to look at the pilot, "Just like I've never met a Merb before you, Stork. Are all Merbs as paranoid as you are?"

"When you live on Terra Merbia, you quickly learn to fear everything." He answered darkly.

"Aw c'mon, that's not a good answer!"

Sighing, he adjusted his position on the couch, "There are an absurd number of perils on my terra. Let's just say if you weren't 'paranoid' as you so kindly put it, you were dead."

Finn grumbled, "Sounds like a place Aerrow'd have a field day."

"What about you." Stork demanded. Another question in the form of a statement.

"What do you mean?"

"Are all kids from Terra Neverlandis as careless and headstrong as you three?"

Finn laughed. He couldn't help it. He laughed long and hard and doubled over, trying to catch his breath afterwards.

"Stork," he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, "When you live with the two greatest people you know and no one's there to tell you about life, you can't help but be careless."

Stork opened his mouth, not really sure what to say. That was okay though, because Finn kept talking, "I just figure that when it feels like it's you against the entire Atmos your whole _life_, you can't help but turn out the way we did."

"Hm." He offered unhelpfully.

"That's why it's so weird how everyone around here acts so grown. Serious faces and silent worries everywhere I turn. We're kids! And kids shouldn't go around worrying about everything all the time. So…" he tapped a headphone with a finger, "I'll be the child. I'll be the part of the team that won't ever grow up so the rest of you guys can see and remember what it feels like to be a normal kid."

He looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully before adding, "Well about as normal as you can get around here anyway."

Stork stared at him for a good long time before pulling back a headphone and letting it snap against Finn's head, "You're strange."

"Ow! Yeah thanks that means so much coming from the guy who's madly in love with a ship and worries about soul sucking maggots!"

He stood and strolled toward the kitchen, "I meant it as a compliment."

"Oh well…" Finn stared at the retreating figure and grinned, "Thanks then."


	3. Tinker Bella

Pots and pans were everywhere. Piper hadn't even started dinner and the kitchen was already a mess. She had gone through the cupboards and fished through the refrigerator for recipe ideas, but that was unfruitful. This shouldn't be that difficult, she eventually reasoned, she was just thinking too hard. So she would just wing it. If the guys could do it, why not her?

The disaster taking place before her was exactly why not.

"Well at least we haven't started a fire yet, right Radarr?"

Radarr gave her a half lidded stare and she crossed her arms, "What? You have to look on the bright side!" He rolled his eyes and hopped up on the counter, "I'm going to be a horrible housewife aren't I?"

He chattered offhandedly and she took it as a weak attempt to comfort her worries, "Gee thanks. It's not really my fault though!" She pulled a pot aside as Radarr tossed a few ingredients into a pan, "My crystals and the boys always come first. I don't have time to learn how to make the perfect soufflé or darn socks." Piper smiled nodded to herself, "Right?"

Radarr shrugged, too absorbed in his handiwork to be bothered with her worries at the moment. "Well I think I'm right."

Piper gnawed her cheek for the better part of the next twenty minutes, putting dishes and other cooking tools away quietly. Junko had stopped by, asking when dinner was going to be ready and she lied through her teeth, telling him to let everyone know that it was just about time to eat.

"Oh who am I kidding?" She muttered, defeated.

"Dinner's nowhere near ready," Radarr twittered, offended "Sorry, you're doing a great job, Radarr. I'm just lanky and dorky and useless when it comes to certain things."

She turned down the heat on a pot as the sauce began to dangerously bubble. Radarr chirruped his thanks and she nodded. "I'm just one of the guys. I'll never be more then the girl next door type, huh? Back on Terra Neverlandis it was just us and I had no idea other girls could be so…beautiful."

She nervously fiddled with the band on her head, "I mean have you seen the other girls here in Atmos, Radarr? They're stunning. They have curves for goodness sake. And I'm just," She gestured to her body and let her arms plop to her sides, "Blah."

Laying face first across the counter, she spoke into the hard surface, "One day they're not going to need me and some cute little Jane or Wendy will show up and take them away. And all I can do is stand by and be jealous. Oh!" Her head lifted as she was struck with an idea, "I could try to sabotage any and every relationship they get into and then—" Radarr shot her a look, "Okay you're right, that's a horrible idea."

Piper stood and leaned against the counter, closing her eyes and sighing, "I just. I just don't want to lose my boys. They were mine first, okay?"

"Oooh, a bit possessive maybe?"

Piper flailed and screamed, "Gah! Finn how long have you been there?"

Finn sauntered into the kitchen behind Stork, grinning widely, "Relax, I just walked in. So don't worry, I didn't hear the rest of your deep passionate desires for the Finnster."

"Oh God please just shut up." She rolled her eyes.

"I have to agree with Piper, Finn. Stop talking. Please."

"Man Stork, and here I thought we were bonding or something."

Stork shook his head and leaned against the wall, "So what's for dinner? Something edible I hope?"

Piper's eyes widened as she bit her lip, "Dinner! Right. Well," she smiled sheepishly, "Radarr kind of did most of the work. I couldn't figure out what to make."

Stork shrugged and Finn began laughing hysterically, "Oh man wait, what kind of girl are you? Can't even cook dinner, that's hilarious!"

She puffed up and crossed her arms, "I can too cook dinner! I just…couldn't work with what we have!"

"So…does that mean we're _not_ eating today?" Junko wandered in, looking worried, "But you said—"

"I know what I said, Junko," She was still a bit miffed from Finn's jab, "And dinner will be ready soon! I'm just…not the one who made it. I helped though?" She added optimistically.

Finn just laughed harder.

"Finn!" She squawked as her face heated up, "Stop laughing at me, it's not that funny!"

Growling, she stomped towards the sharpshooter, fingers curling into a fist, "Quit it!"

"Whoa, what's going on in here?" Aerrow chuckled as he entered the kitchen.

"Oh hey Aerrow," Piper and Finn answered in unison.

Still smiling, Aerrow turned his nose to the air, "Mm, something smells good. What is it?"

All hostility was forgotten as Radarr motioned to the six plates he had laid on the counter. There were various sounds of rejoicing as each Storm Hawk grabbed a plate and headed for the table on the bridge.

The conversation was light and happy. Aerrow shot a smile at Junko and proclaimed that they were a great family and everyone played an important role. Finn heartily agreed and declared that his part was to never grow up and stay awesome. Piper joked that the not growing up part should be easy for him, but admitted that she wasn't sure what her role really was.

Both Finn and Aerrow began to list off how she was a sort of glue that kept everyone functioning and on track.

Like a mother, Aerrow offered.

Only not in a weird way, Finn assured.

Definitely irreplaceable, they agreed.

Stork smirked and looked at Junko who shrugged and smiled warmly while Radarr merely shook his head and grinned.

They had a sort of system going and it worked. They didn't really _need_ a terra to call home because they had each other to support and rely on. They were their own sea and sky and earth. Fashioned their own grass and trees and wind.

They were a breathing and living and loving terra firma, mare, and incognita.

******  
It's Latin in case you were wondering. Solid land, sea, and unknown.  
Also, I'm not satisfied with how this came out, but if I sit on it, I'll never get around to posting.  
So here you go.


End file.
